Manufacture of artificial silk



p M, M31. B. GORDON, .JR

MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL SILK Filed March 20, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet lA mmmfirr- API'l 14, 1931 B. GORDON, .1R 1,800,830

MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL SILK Filed March 20, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Hiring. Y "Il ZO 29 24 were performed upon the yarn in skein form.

In this process of treating `the yarn in which it is wound from the cake onto a perforated bobbin, it has been proposed to wind the yarn directly from the cake onto the bobbin, without any previous treatment of the yarn. In this case the yarn packagel on the bobbin contains a high percentage of salts and acid from the spinning bath and must be very tightly wound if injurious loosening of the package after removal of the salts is to be avoided. I have, however, found it advantageous, under many circumstances, to subject the spun cake to prewashing in cake form, in order to remove the contained salts and acid derived from the spinning bath. This prewashing of the cake affords certain advantages, of which the following are examples: The ageing of the spun yarn may be regulated to a predetermined period without any necessity of matching a spinning schedule to a skeining schedule, it being only necessary to wash the cake without any intervening step in order thereby to terminate the ageing ata desired and controlled instant; the yarn package, when-the yarn has been wound onto the perforated bobbin, is free from salts and acid, and the necessity for a tightly compacted yarn package and the danger of loosening of the package upon removal of the salts, with consequent injury to the yarn, are alike obviated.

In conjunction with either of the foregoing processes, that is whether prewashing be employed or not, I have heretofore proposed to wind the yarn from the cake onto a perforated bobbin by means of a special process and winding machine which I have developed for the purpose, and this process and.

machine are described and claimed in my copending application for Letters Patent of the United States Serial No. 327,611, filed December 21, 1928. Although in many `cases this winding process and machine is admirably suited to its purpose, I have now found that under certain circumstances I can perform the winding from the cake to the bobbin ever more advantageously in the manner, and by means of the machine, which I shall now describe in connectionwith the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure l is a view partly in section and partly in elevation of a portion of one form of machine upon which my new process of winding from the cake to the bobbin may' be performed, and which will be describedl by way of example, and

Figure 2 is a partially diagrammatic view of a machine for carrying out my winding process, showing an example of one form of dricving mechanism for operating the same, an

Figure 3 is a section on the line A-A of Figure 2.

Referring more particularly to Figure 1, a cake-holding winding pot, 1, is provided with a circular aperture, 2, in its base, 3. This aperture is of sufficient diameter to permit the passage of a bobbin Wound with the desired amount of yarn, but is preferably of the same diameter as, or of less diameter than, the inside bottom diameter of a full yarn cake, a nearly full cake being shown at 17. The pot, 1, is attached either integrally or by means of a suitable clamping or locking means, 3', to, and supported by, a hollow cylindrical spacing sleeve, 4, provided with an upper annular flange, 5, -which engages the base, 3, of the pot 1, and with a base, 6, which engages the vertical shaft, 7, of an electric motor or other suitable means (not shown) for rotating the pot, 1. The shaft, 7, is supported and prevented from whipping by means of the bearing assembly, 8, which should be constructed so that the cylindrical spacing sleeve, 4, and the pot, l, when rapidly rotated by the shaft, 7, are free from unbalance and vibration, which might break the thread during Winding.

The spacing sleeve, 4, is of such internal diameter and depth as readily to receive interiorly a bobbin of the desired size, wound with the desired quantity of yarn, preferably the yarn content of at least one yarn cake. Thus the inside diameter of the sleeve is suitably the same as that of the aperture, 2, and its depth is slightly greater than the length of a bobbin.

A hollow perfdrated bobbin, 9, ofthe desired size, is supported on the vertically depending bobbin-support or mandrel, 10, arranged. concentrically with the axis of the pot, andis locked by means of the clamping ring, 11, provided with a stud, 11', which engages the bayonet-lock slot, 12. The bobbin-support, l0, is mounted on a horizontal arm 13, which is slidably mounted on the vertical guide shaft, 14, by means of the bushing, 15. v

A slow downward motion is imparted to the arm, 13, by the feed-screw, 16. This screw may be automatically driven from the shaft, 7, by means of a worm gear or other suitable reduction mechanism, not shown in Fig. 1. A rapid reverse drive or other suitable means is also preferably provided for restoring the arm, 13, to its original elevated position, and a clutch may also be provided if desired.

To perform the winding'operation, the arm, 13, is raised to its upper position, so that the mandrel, 10, is clear of the pot, 1; an empty bobbin is placed and locked on and to the mandrel, so that it is coaxial with the pot, 1; a yarn cake, 17, is placed in the pot, 1; the inner end of the yarn is tied or wound around the lower end of the bobbin; and the bobbin islowered into the starting position, i. e., with the lower end of its winding space opposite the bottom of the cake. The shaft, 7, is then set in rotation, and the yarn is rapidly unwoud from the rotatin yarn cake and wound directly onto the bobbin. The cake having been originally wound while a traverse motion was being imparted to the yarn, a corresponding traverse motion is automatically imparted to the yarn as it is unwound from the cake and wound onto the bobbin. The feed mechanism, 16, imparts a slow downward axial motion to the bobbin past the cake, and the combination of this slow axial feed of the bobbin with the traverse of the yarn as it is unwound from the cake and wound onto the bobbin produces on the bobbin a yarn package of the barrel or tapered-end shape which I have found to be especially suitable for washing and other treatment.

One suitable form of machine for ,performing the winding operation is shown in Figure 2, in which like referencecharacters denote like parts to those shown in Figure 1. In addition t0 the elements shown in Figure 1, Figure 2 shows one suitable form of driving mechanism. The motor18, is connected to the shaft, 19, which carries slidably mounted thereon the friction wheel, 20. When this friction wheel is moved to the left it engages the smaller friction wheel, or disc,

21, which is mounted on and drives the shaft, 7, carrying the sleeve, 4, and spinning pot, 1. The small pinion, 22, carried on the Vsame shaft, engages a gear, 23, which is secured to and drives the feed-screw, 16, at a relatively slow rate, thereby feeding the bobbin, 9, downwardly through the pot, 1. A clutch, 24, is arranged to be operated by the linkage, 25, 26, 27, 28, and is so arranged that when the clutch member, 29, is moved into engagement with the clutch member, 30, the friction wheels, 20, and 21, are automatically disengaged, and a rapid reverse drive is imparted to the feed-screw, 16, by means of the large bevel gear, 31, which engages the small bevel gear, 32, on the bottom end of the screw shaft, 16. During this reverse drive, the pinion, 22, is disengaged from and idles around the ratchet such as that shown in Figure 3, which is a section taken on the line A--A of Figure 2.

The arm 13`may be provided with a lug 13a arranged to engage the lugs 28a and 286 mounted on the clutch operating rod 28. Thus when the lug 13a engages the lug 285, at the bottom of the downward travel of the bobbin, it operates the clutch linkage so as to disengage the friction wheels 20 and 21, engage the clutch members 29 and 30, and

shaft, 7, by virtue of a -be maintained more nearly uniform, which start the reverse drive of the feed-screw 16. Before this is done, the yarn cake should preferably be wholly unwound, and the yarn entirely wound onto the bobbin. lTo prevent this automatic reversal of the drive, in case it is not desi-red, the intermediate stop or yoke 27a is provided for bell-crank lever g 27, so that the clutch is moved only so far as the neutral position and the drive is stopped. By withdrawing the yoke 27a, 75 the clutch is then again automatically engaged and the reverse drive started. At the upper limit of travel of the arm 13, carrying the bobbin 9, a like function is performed by the lug 28a, when engaged by the lug 13a. This reversal is. automatic if the yoke 27a is left withdrawn, or if the yoke 27a is replaced, the engagement lof lug 13a with lug 28a merelymoves the clutch 24 to the neutral position, and thus stops the drive. The hand-wheel, 33, may also be used at will for adjustment of the feedscrew, 16, to position the bobbin.

An advantage of this direct winding process, which for convenience I have termed pot-winding, is that friction affecting the `yarn is almost entirely avoided, since the use of guides and feeds for the yarn, which have been hitherto necessary, is entirely avoided by my new process. In previous winding processes and apparatus it has been necessary to feed the yarn from the cake over a series p 0f guides, and through traverse mediums, to the bobbin, and this has involved, also, a change in direction of travel'of the yarn. The friction to which the yarn was thus subjected during the winding frequently produced injury and consequently decreased production of grade A yarn. In former winding processes, moreover, the speed of winding was limited by the mechanical movements employed, by the increased likelihood of injury to the yarn at high speeds, and by other physical limitations of the apparatus.. In the present process, on the contrary, 1t has been found that very high winding speeds can be attained, particularly if the rotating parts of the apparatus are in nice dynamic balance so that whipping is avoided,'in which case, winding speeds of many thousands R. P. M. may be employed, and great economy of time effected. Still another advantage of the resent invention is that a substantially uni orm tension on the yarn can be maintained, while winding it onto the bobbin, resulting in a much more uniform. quality of yarn. Further, the-angle at which the yarn is wound onto the bobbin can also also results in an improved product. These and other advantageous results may be accomplished,.in apparatus such as that described, by proper design and proportioning of the apparatus and inter-adjustment of its 13o elements. Thus the size of the pot, cake and bobbin, the relative rates of rotation of the cake and axial movement of the bobbin, and shape of the several elements, are factors which may be considered in this connection, as will be readily understood by persons skilled in this art.

The present invention may be applied to produce a wide variety of desirable results in addition to those already mentioned. For example, in my co-pending application, Serial No. 449,133, filed May 2, 1930, I have described and Aclaimed a process and apparatus whereby rayon may be processed, and its manufacture into dry finished yarn completed, in cake form. The present invention may be advantageously employed for winding such dry, processed rayon onto a bobbin, either for drying or for fabrication. Instead of an ordinary hollow perforated bobbin, such as that shown at 9 in the drawings, I may, particularly in the last mentioned case, employ a paper or other suitable tube, and wind the rayon from the cake onto that tube instead of a bobbin, in which condition it may be sold. l

During the process of winding from a cake onto the bobbin, in the event that the cake-is still wet, for example if it has recently been washed, the transfer from the cake to the bobbin according tothe present invention may also simultaneously be usedy to dry the cake by means of centrifugal force or hydro-extraction.

Other applications and uses of the present invention may be devised by persons skilled in the art, and the present invention is not limitedto the specific examples of the process and apparatus described herein: For example, it is possible that my process, at least in some of its phases, might be carrled out, and that some of its advantages might be realized, by rotating cthe bobbin within the cake, rather than by rotating the cake about the bobbin, or by rotating both the cake and the bobbin, either in opposite direct-lons, or in the same directionat different speeds. Of course the winding pot op cake container, 1, can, if preferred, be made integral with. the driving motor or shaft, in order to avold a ,geary connection point. These and other variations. of the specific arrangements descrlbed herein, may fall, therefore, within the sp1r1t of my invention.

What is claimed is:

1. Process of manufacturingartiicial silk, which comprises, in combinatlon, the steps of ejeetng a` from the ori ces of a spmnerette 1nto a spinning bath; coagulating the ejected viscose streams into a` plurality of filaments; twisting the filaments into yarn .and winding the yarn into'a cake by passing the 'coagulated filaments into a rotating spmmng or friction drive at that lurality of streams of viscose pot; placing the spun yarn cake in a winding v pot provided with an aperture in the bottom thereof of larger diameter than the outsidev of a wound bobbin, and arrangin the same coaxially with a bobbin-upon whic the yarn is to be wound; and winding the yarn directly from the yarn cake lonto the bobbin by attaching the inner end of the yarn to the bobbin and imparting a rotary motion to the yarn cake while producin a relatively slow axial movement of the bo bin with respect to the yarn cake through the aperture in the bottom of the winding pot.

2. Apparatus for winding artificial silk I yarn from a yarn cake onto a bobbin, comprising, in combination, a winding pot adapted to receive a yarn cake and provided with an aperture in the bottom thereof of greater diameter than a wound bobbin; a shaft for rotating said winding pot, means for supporting a bobbin interiorly of said winding pot and coaxially therewith, and means for moving said bobbin axially downward through said pot and aperture while winding the yarn from said cake onto said bobbin.

3. Apparatus for windin artificial silk yarn from a yarn cake onto a obbin, comprising, in combination, a winding pot adapted to receive a yarn cake and provided with a bottom aperture larger than the diameter of a wound bobbin; a hollow sleeve arranged coaxially below said winding pot and engaging and supporting the same, and adapted to receive a wound bobbin of yarn; a bobbin; means for supporting said bobbin interiorly of said pot and sleeve and coaxially therewlth; means for rotating said pot and sleeve; and means for moving said bobbin endwise along the common axis of said pot, sleeve and bobbin during said rotation; whereby yarn from a yarn cake contained in said pot is unwound from said cake and wound onto said bobbin and is distributed along said bobbin during the winding thereof.

4. In an apparatus for winding artificial silk from a yarn cake onto a bobbin, the combination of a winding pot adapted to recelve a yarn cake.and provided with a bottom aperture of larger diameter than the diameter of a wound bobbin; a hollow sleeve arranged coaxially below said winding pot and engaging and supporting the same and adapted to receive a wound bobbin of yarn; a bobbin; means for supporting said bobbin interiorly thereof and coaxially therewith; means for rotating said pot to perform the wlndmg operation; means for imparting t0 said bobbin a relatively slow downward movement along the axis of said pot, sleeve and bobbin during said rotation, whereby yarn from a yarn cake contained in said pot is unwound from said cake and wound onto said 'lll bobbin and is distributed along said bobbin for imparting a relatively rapid reverse movement to said bobbin along said common axis, when the winding operation has been completed.

5. In an artificial silk winding machine the combination of a winding pot provided with an aperture in the bottom thereof; a hollow sleeve arranged coaxially below said pot and in engagement with the bottom thereof; a shaft for rotating said sleeve and pot; a motor for driving said shaft; a bobbin; means for supporting said bobbin coaxially with said pot and sleeve; a feed-screw driven by said shaft for imparting a relatively slow axial movement to said bobbin with respect to said pot; and means for disengaging said pot from said driving shaft and imparting a relatively rapid reverse motion to said feedscrew.

6. rIhe method of unwinding yard from a yarn cake directly onto a bobbin extending through the yarn cake which comprises relatively rotating the yarn cake and bobbin to unwind the yarn from the yarn cake and wind4 it directly upon the bobbin; and relatively moving the yarn cake and bobbin longitudinally of the axis of rotation through a distance greater than the height of the yarn cake, while the yarn is being wound otl' of the yarn cake onto the bobbin, to present a winding length on the4 bobbin in excess of the height of the yarn cake. i

7. The method of unwinding yarn from a yarn cake directly ontoY a bobbin extending through the yarn cake which com rises rotating the yarn cake while constraining the bobbin against rotation, to unwindthe yarn from the yarn cake and wind it directly upon the bobbin; and moving the bobbin along the axis of the yarn cake through a distance greater than the height of the yarn cake, while the yarn is being wound oli' of the yarn cake onto the bobbin, to present a winding space on the bobbin of greater length than the height of the yarn cake.

8. The method of unwindin yarn from a yarn cake directly onto abob in extending through the yarn cake which comprises rotating the yarn cake to unwind the yarn therefrom and wind it directly upon the bobbin; and, during the course of winding the yarn thereon, moving the bobbin axially through the yarn cake through a distance greater than the height of the yarn cake.

9. A machine of the class described comprising in combination; a pot adapted to receive a hollow yarn cake, a bobbin movable through the pot and a contained yarn cake and adapted directly to receive yarn progres'- sively unwound from the inside of the yarn calze, the bobbin having a winding space longer than the height of the yarn cake to be unwound, means for rotating the pot to cause the yarn to be unwound from the yarn cake directly onto the bobbin, and means for moving the bobbin through the pot.

10. Method of winding a bobbin of yarn to produce a tapered-end barrel-shaped yarn package in which the yarn is distributed over a relatively long winding space on the bobbin in a relatively thin layer, whereby the yarn package lon the bobbin is well adapted for processing thereon by means of liquid forced through the bobbin, or for other operations, in which the yarn is first wound into a yarn cake by rotation of the cake and vertical reciprocating traverse of the yarn, and the yarn is then unwound from the yarn cake and wound onto thev bobbin .while they are coaxially disposed with the bobbin inside the cake, and producing a continuous relative longitudinal movement in one direction only of the yarn cake and bobbin along their conimon axis during the winding operation, through a distance greater than the height of the yarn cake, whereby the traverse of the `yarn previously wound into the yarn cake automatically produces a substantially equal traverse of the yarn as it is unwound from the cake onto the bobbin, which traverse is superposed, during the winding of the bobbin, on the greater unidirectional relative axial movement of the yarn cake and bobbin, and the Winding space on the bobbin to which the yarn is being applied consequently progresses along the length of the bobbin during the entire winding operation through a distance greater than the height of the yarn cake, said Winding space being at any one instant constantly substantially equal to the height of the yarn cake, to produce a yarn package on the bobbin having the said tapered-end barrel-shaped form with the yarn distributed over a winding space on the bobbin relatively longer than the height of the yarn cake, and in a relatively thin layer.

In testimony whereof I hereto aiix my signature.

BEIRNE. GORDON,` J R. 

